The classic film blog that's closer to Holyrood, Scotland than Hollywood, USA

A must for every 007 fan: the James Bondathon

How you first watch a James Bond film can affect the rest of your life.

For those of us who remember Bond films being shown every Bank Holiday when we were young, usually with chunks excised by an over-eager ITV censor who seemed to think that watching our hero engaging in perfectly reasonable violence against enemies of Her Majesty would corrupt our fragile minds, the results can be mixed.

Either we recall them as curiously dull affairs with far too many adverts getting in the way of the (heavily cut) action, or we remember the sheer excitement of seeing Bond (any Bond) taking on the world and winning.

Now that we’re blessed with Ultimate Edtion DVDs, with more extras than you can shake a golden finger at, we can better appreciate the films. With picture and sound quality at their best, it’s the perfect time to set out on a viewing marathon of all the Bond movies.

Which is exactly what happened in LA the other week.

A group of fans set out to watch 25 Bond films (that includes Never Say Never Again and the both the 1950s and 1960s versions of Casino Royale) in order over three days, rating them as they went along.

The results were surprising and gratifying, particularly if you like On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Goldfinger. They also made a time-lapse video of the event, with a written report available over on the excellent CommanderBond.net website: